Kroger Also Needs to Unlock the Condoms

In the past year or so, I’ve seen a lot of effort toward convincing pharmacy/retail chain CVS to “unlock the condoms.” The argument is that, when these stores lock up the condoms in a special case, it creates barriers to access and gets in the way of people acting responsibly. Yes, ideally we’re all comfortable asking for help with access to condoms and store staff are professional and helpful and don’t tell our mamas in our small towns about it, but we don’t live in an ideal world.

Well, it’s definitely not just CVS. I had occasion recently to notice that my Kroger (grocery store) pharmacy was closed, and they keep all the condoms and such in a cabinet in front of the pharmacy. Yep, it was locked. I did a quick search and haven’t found a coordinated campaign to convince Kroger to change this policy, but I did find at least one other blogger who encountered the problem.

Have you run into this at your local Kroger? Other stores? Let me know in the comments. Now to send Kroger a letter…

Yeah, all this stuff gets locked up in my market, too. The logic is that these items (especially condoms and pregnancy tests) are among the most frequently stolen items in the store. Keeping them in a locked case minimizes theft. Sad but true.

Our Kroger locks condoms up as well. I had the pleasure of needing to restock recently. Went to the pharmacy cashier to ask them to let me in the condom cabinet. The cashier walks me over to the cabinet, unlocks it and says to me “I’ll leave you so you can have some privacy.” I was like – um – hi – I just had to ask at the counter with other people waiting/working – what privacy!!!

Now we only go to Target – not pushing a button to wait for someone to come “assist” you or asking at the counter!

Yeah, everywhere except target locks up the condoms, lubes, pregnancy tests etc. in ATlanta. I found it very annoying and asked why they do that only to be told they have a high theft rate otherwise. I agree that it literally creates a barrier…I mean, I have made a point to only get such items at Target bc I refuse to have to make the kroger staff privy to my personal life.